Posts tagged Technology

After 5 months of service, did the Dh28 billion (75% above the original estimates), one of the most advanced, longest automated driverless WiFi-enabled train system live up to the initial hype and fanfare?

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The world’s newest & most advanced metro aimed to join the league of megacities around the world, to ease the traffic problem, and to reduce road congestion and distances between key locations… Beyond its posh & mesmerizing design, did it meet these goals?

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On the positive side, the metro fare is affordable, and the surrounding of the metro stations (mainly malls) will flourish…

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On the other hand, the researchers and experts from around the world who have been working on the project since 1990, missed a key issue: that last mile connecting people from and to the stations:

Long walks in the desert heat is not the greatest ideas,

the 300 taxis assigned to support Dubai Metro network charge the regular fare (wasn’t the metro supposed to reduce the number of cars?),

It grows food in sand, powers homes and the sun and this year launches the world’s finest city-wide electric car system …

… Drivers will plug in their cars to recharge for several hours at home, work or at designated free car parks throughout the country … The electricity for the cars will come from solar technology being developed in the desert …

The praising article goes on:

… “we are smart because we know that we have to be to survive” … revolutionised the watering of agricultural crops more than 40 years ago … leading the way in a new technology that harnesses solar power for clean electricity production … One company was snapped up by the German industrial giant Siemens last year for more than $400 million … is developing a system to generate electricity from the pressure of traffic driving along roads…

Broadband connectivity is a must for economic growth and social development and applications in education, health, banking, and commerce need to be on-line and connected. Broadband also means faster Internet and more bandwidth to upload and upload e-mails, files, videos, and pictures.

3000 more signatures are needed to put the broadband national demand in front of the council of ministers.